2016-6-8 · Outotec''s copper chloride leaching process is carried out in atmospheric leach reactors with cupric ions, Cu(II), in a chloride media at a pH between 2 and 2.8. The leach conditions are suitable for the leaching of all copper sulphide minerals, such as chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, covellite and digenite (Valkama, 2013). These leach conditions have delivered high recoveries of copper and silver (95–98% and 93–96%, respectively) in batch tests and pilot runs. Chloride from sodium chloride enables the leaching reactions but it is not consumed in them and sulphuric acid is used as a makeup acid. Because of the nature of the leaching solution and the subsequent SX, neither chemical has stringent purity requirements. Silver and gold can be recovered also if they are present in the feed. As a result, the technology is suited to a wide variety of copper-containing …